{"id":116348,"date":"2022-11-04T09:00:40","date_gmt":"2022-11-04T13:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=116348"},"modified":"2022-11-04T17:22:19","modified_gmt":"2022-11-04T21:22:19","slug":"nyt-op-ed-black-wall-street-was-burned-down-in-1921-but-its-being-revived","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=116348","title":{"rendered":"(NYT Op-ed) \u2018Black Wall Street\u2019 Was Burned Down in 1921, but It\u2019s Being Revived"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Black neighborhood of Greenwood in Tulsa, Okla., was so prosperous at the start of the 20th century that Booker T. Washington, the educator and author,\u00a0called it<\/a>\u00a0Negro Wall Street, which later morphed into Black Wall Street. A white mob\u00a0burned it down<\/a>\u00a0in 1921 and killed hundreds of people. Now there\u2019s an effort to revive Black Wall Street, creating opportunities for Black venture capitalists and entrepreneurs not just in Tulsa but also across the United States. I recently interviewed Ashli Sims, a longtime Tulsa resident who is leading the project.<\/p>\n

Sims told me that when she was growing up in Tulsa in the 1980s and \u201990s, the race massacre of 1921 was spoken of in hushed tones. \u201cThere was a lot of focus on the tragedy and not on the excellence that came before, how much wealth there was,\u201d she explained. She said that as the years went by she realized that Greenwood could be not just a warning but also an inspiration to Black people. Her message: \u201cYou are destined for greatness because this is where you came from.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organization of which she is managing director,\u00a0Build in Tulsa<\/a>, staged its first Black Venture Summit last year, on the centennial of the massacre, with Black-led firms looking to invest and Black-led start-ups looking for investors. The second summit, a larger, three-day affair,\u00a0ends on Friday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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#OTD<\/a> in 1921, 36 blocks of Black owned businesses known as Black Wall Street in Tulsa, OK was burned down & destroyed by a mob of white men. pic.twitter.com\/mMEY7iLvUO<\/a><\/p>\n

— Dirrick Butler (@sirdbutler) June 1, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n